Lee Jung-jae made history during Monday night’s 74th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, winning the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. 

Jung-jae, who won for his leading role as Seong Gi-hun in the record-breaking Netflix series Squid Game, is the first South Korean actor to win in the category. He’s also the first actor of Asian descent to win the honor. 

“Thank you so much, thank you so much,”  he said as he accepted the honor. “First, I would like to thank God above. Thank you to the Television Academy. Thank you to Netflix.”

He then shouted out the series’ director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, “for making realistic problems we all face come to life so creatively on the screen with a great script and amazing visuals.” 

Dong-hyuk also made history for being the first South Korean to nab the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a drama series.